Biotechnology and technology deals have helped eclipse the $386.8 million through all of last year. Louisville's Replidyne landed one of the nation's biggest chunks.

Venture capital raised by Colorado companies continued to trend upward in the third quarter, buoyed by a large biotechnology deal and several smaller technology ones, according to a survey to be released today by accounting firm Ernst & Young.

Colorado firms have secured $469.2 million in venture capital in 2005, compared with $386.8 million raised in all of 2004.

In the third quarter, 13 deals statewide raised $131.7 million, a 22.3 percent increase over 2004's third quarter.

Venture capital is financing provided to new or existing firms that investors believe are poised for growth.

"The market for venture capital in Colorado has definitely gotten stronger," said Frank Mendicino of Access Venture Partners in Westminster. "The trend is generally upward."

"I look at a report like this with some skepticism," said Musyl, a lawyer with Greenberg Traurig.

Musyl, who had seen the report, said an energy company he worked with was not included in the survey, despite securing $15 million in financing.

In relatively less mature markets such as Colorado, "There's a tendency to let a lot more deals slip through the cracks than in Silicon Valley," Musyl said.

Joe Muscat of Ernst & Young said data are culled from, among other sources, interviews with venture capitalists, lawyers and news releases.

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"The processes are inherently inefficient. ... Over time this data has proven to be very reliable," he said.

According to the report, the state's biotechnology firms securing a large chunk of the financing were:

Replidyne Inc., a Louisville- based biopharmaceutical company that develops antibiotics to treat infections caused by drug- resistant bacteria, secured one of the nation's largest deals, $62.5 million.

ManiaTV Network, a Denver-based Internet television company, received $12 million.

Nationally, 555 total deals raised $5.49 billion, marking the first quarterly year-over-year increase in 2005, the survey showed. That's down slightly from the $5.8 billion invested in the second quarter.

Information-technology companies represented one of the strongest areas. The sector reported $3.1 billion in financing, an 11 percent increase from the third quarter of 2004.

"The strong investment levels in information technology," said Robb Browne with Ernst & Young in San Francisco, "continue to be the result of a considerable amount of interest by investors in later-stage companies as they see the potential for viable IPO and merger and acquisition exits."

VentureOne, a San Francisco research firm, prepared the report with Ernst & Young.

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